Month 5: Creating Deeper Connections

Share

Copy the link

It’s the 1st October (can you believe it!?) and that means the start of another theme and a new experiment in my connections project.

This month I’ll be trying to create more ‘human moments’ in my life and finding ways to connect more deeply with others.

What I mean by this is making the most of my day-to-day contact with others. This might involve a smile in a lift (where appropriate!), asking someone I know how their day is going, or simply making eye contact and acknowledging someone as I pass them in the corridor.

It will mean being fully present and listening to what the other person is saying when talking to them, and really hearing their replies. Not just letting what they say go in one ear and out of the other, or thinking about other things as I’m talking to them.

I’d like to be more aware of the things I have in common with those around me and focus on our similarities rather than our differences.

As part of this experiment I’ve decided to do something pretty significant for me. I’m coming off some social media (not my blog of course!) and my family email group for a month and instead focussing on ‘real life’ connections and in having more personal relationships with others.

I find that I can often spend too much time on my devices rather than being fully connected to the world and the people around me. I also find that a lot of my time on social media is used to compare myself with others and compare the responses I get to those that others get – which I very often do!

Last month’s theme helped me understand the many ways in which I’m already connected. This month’s experiment will hopefully take that a step further and really build on those connections.

I’m really excited to see what this experiment brings and what it teaches me.

I have always felt like an ‘outsider’ in life for a number of reasons, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realise just how many other women feel this way. I recently turned forty which has forced me to do something about this, and my blog posts tell the story about my search for meaningful connections – not just with other people, but also with myself and even the world around me.